Someone on Fark made an excellent suggestion that we add a new type of Jury findings: Not Proven.

I added that maybe the Double Jeopardy rule should be suspended in case of such a ruling to allow retrials at a later date.

I understand the reasoning behind the rule, but sometimes I have to question whether it is the right thing or not

Double jeopardy as is wouldn't apply should the DOJ decide to pursue some sort of civil rights case against Zimmerman.

I like the idea of the Not Proven jury finding, but getting rid of double jeopardy would mean there's nothing stopping the state from just trying someone over and over again until they find a jury sympathetic to the desired outcome.

Someone on Fark made an excellent suggestion that we add a new type of Jury findings: Not Proven.

I added that maybe the Double Jeopardy rule should be suspended in case of such a ruling to allow retrials at a later date.

I understand the reasoning behind the rule, but sometimes I have to question whether it is the right thing or not

Double jeopardy as is wouldn't apply should the DOJ decide to pursue some sort of civil rights case against Zimmerman.

I like the idea of the Not Proven jury finding, but getting rid of double jeopardy would mean there's nothing stopping the state from just trying someone over and over again until they find a jury sympathetic to the desired outcome.

It could be tweaked to allow one jury ruling of Not Proven forcing the next trial to be Acquittal v Conviction. This will alleviate the problems of harassment by getting all Not Proven rulings.

Aarontology:cman: It could be tweaked to allow one jury ruling of Not Proven forcing the next trial to be Acquittal v Conviction. This will alleviate the problems of harassment by getting all Not Proven rulings.

I'd be OK with that, as long as there was some sort of requirement for new evidence for the prosecution.

SO long as we agree that we're ok with granting the state more power to lock us up for all the wonderful laws on the books.

Aarontology:cman: It could be tweaked to allow one jury ruling of Not Proven forcing the next trial to be Acquittal v Conviction. This will alleviate the problems of harassment by getting all Not Proven rulings.

I'd be OK with that, as long as there was some sort of requirement for new evidence for the prosecution.

This is a really bad idea. No one gets a second bite at the apple. This case is not worth shredding our judicial system an hundreds of years of legal precedence.

doyner:Aarontology: cman: It could be tweaked to allow one jury ruling of Not Proven forcing the next trial to be Acquittal v Conviction. This will alleviate the problems of harassment by getting all Not Proven rulings.

I'd be OK with that, as long as there was some sort of requirement for new evidence for the prosecution.

SO long as we agree that we're ok with granting the state more power to lock us up for all the wonderful laws on the books.

Unfortunately, the more I learn about this thing, the more I think that the prosecution should have never brought charges against Zimmerman. This should have played out in civil court. Yes, a teenager is dead. But there is not convincing evidence of what happened other than vague audio tapes and hearsay/speculaton after the 911 call. While I, personally, don't think he had a chance for a SYG defense, he was reasonable in saying the shooting was justified given the escalation.

Point of order: Being a racist dickbag who likes to play cop is NOT illegal, necessarily.

However, I'm willing to be that had this played out in a civil court, and been laid out there, Zimmerman would have been demonstrated as acting when he did not have a legal duty to act, and negligently escalating the situation to where the use of lethal force took place. Even though the shooting was justified, his actions caused it to end that way.

Nabb1:Aarontology: cman: It could be tweaked to allow one jury ruling of Not Proven forcing the next trial to be Acquittal v Conviction. This will alleviate the problems of harassment by getting all Not Proven rulings.

I'd be OK with that, as long as there was some sort of requirement for new evidence for the prosecution.

This is a really bad idea. No one gets a second bite at the apple. This case is not worth shredding our judicial system an hundreds of years of legal precedence.

The fact that people have these sacred cows shows what kind of problems we have today in the United States

Society evolves. Let it.

I am in favor of gay marriage. It is very unlikely that the founders of the United States believed in such, and yet we as a nation are evolving.

I've had jury duty. The potential jurors asked for Jerry Springer to be put on in the waiting room. It's a horrible system and we should come up with a better one. Not try to mend it, just toss and start fresh.

I wonder if Obama will apologize now for his earlier statements. You know, now that an impartial jury, who had all the facts at their disposal, has determined that this was neither murder nor manslaughter.

I keep looking for the thread where all the jackasses who kept saying that there were going to be race riots across Florida if Zimmerman was found not guilty will admit they were wrong and apologize to all the people that said they were stupid for disagreeing with them. I suppose I shouldn't hold my breath though...

We have stemmed the tide in gun violence, it's been going down for years. It's an EBB tide.

I was not on the jury, did not see evidence not shown by a radio or TV shouter - how the heck am I supposed to decide if this cat is guilty or not. Jury had THREE choices, could have convicted him two of the three ways and they did not. This was supposedly a jury of his peers, I think the system worked.

cman:Nabb1: Aarontology: cman: It could be tweaked to allow one jury ruling of Not Proven forcing the next trial to be Acquittal v Conviction. This will alleviate the problems of harassment by getting all Not Proven rulings.

I'd be OK with that, as long as there was some sort of requirement for new evidence for the prosecution.

This is a really bad idea. No one gets a second bite at the apple. This case is not worth shredding our judicial system an hundreds of years of legal precedence.

The fact that people have these sacred cows shows what kind of problems we have today in the United States

Society evolves. Let it.

I am in favor of gay marriage. It is very unlikely that the founders of the United States believed in such, and yet we as a nation are evolving.

Maybe the prosecution shouldn't indict someone if they have insufficient evidence, like it's supposed to be. Why should they get a free shot at prosecution knowing if they fail they get a do over on the publics dime? Defendants also have a right to a speedy trial. Getting one then having another one hang over their head indefinitely while the prosecution looks for more evidence isn't the definition of speedy. That's a bad idea all around.

hardinparamedic:the more I learn about this thing, the more I think that the prosecution should have never brought charges against Zimmerman.

Certainly not the set of charges that they did bring, but I'd be okay with it if most firearm-related deaths were prosecuted as manslaughter except in extraordinary circumstances. Questions of whether lethal force was appropriately applied are better decided by a jury than by any one person.

It's hard to look at the police's decision to send George Zimmerman home without charges after loading a dead teenager into the morgue freezer and not see race-based favoritism.